Day 5

Today was my second day of community service. I had assumed that we would rotate through medical, community service, and education in an order, so I was a little surprised to see that I was on community service again today. But it went well.

We started by moving another pile of sand to a new yard using our pan and bag method. It was much easier than last time because we didn't have to carry the sand as far. We finished pretty quick and were taken to work on bathrooms.

There are indian style toilets throughout the colony that are eco-friendly. The people aren't able to take care of them properly so we are changing them into septic tanks.  

Our job was to fill the toilet with dirt.

This is what the toilet looks like.

A nice oval hole in the ground.

We filled the hole using our metal pans. 

We made an assembly line and took turns shoveling so it really wasn't too bad.

Once it was filled we had to carry over water to pack the dirt down.

We finished filling the first toilet and then got to do it again to another toilet!

The day was pretty laid back for me. I wasn't feeling too well so it was kind of nice to have a mindless task to complete.

It was fun to be in the colonies today becasue a lot of people were outside. There was one woman sitting outside that lived in front of the first toilet that we worked on. She came outside when we started working and waved to us every time we walked by.

I noticed that she had a plastic bag tied around the base of her leg with a string. I assume that it was to keep ulcers clean. She got around by scooting on her backside. Her yard was full of trash and water jugs that had mold in them.

It's hard to see that people are living in these conditions. I have always known that many do but it's different to see it for yourself. While I'm home living my perfect life there are people all over the world sleeping on dirt floors and drinking water that isn't sanitary. There are people that have to use dirty plastic to cover their wounds because they don't have sanitary bandages. It's hard to picture a certain face when I think of those conditions. Knowing that that certain face is a person with a life just as valuable as mine.